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The group includes more than 500 data sets that could could be tapped to make consumers smarter or safer.

This post has been updated.

The team at Data.gov launched its 16th data community on Monday, this one focused on government-gathered data that may be valuable to consumers.

The consumer community includes about 500 datasets ranging from census reports to a feed of child product recalls. Most previous Data.gov communities have been more narrowly focused on a field such as health, energy and oceans.

Officials said the new community would aid “smart disclosure,” a term for making valuable data more easily available to citizens interested in referencing it and to developers interested in building Web and mobile applications that rely on it.

The White House launched Data.gov in 2009 as a single repository for the hundreds of thousands of spreadsheets, digital maps and other datasets government agencies produce.

“Using the community, entrepreneurs and innovators can access free federal data to create the consumer applications, products, and services of the future -- all in one convenient location,” officials said in a blog post.